1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates generally to the art of converting hardtop vehicles to removable top vehicles and is closely related to the vehicle customizing field. More specifically this invention relates to the art of severing a double walled steel structure and adapting the severed edges to be removably rejoined.
2. Prior Art
A relatively recent development in the automobile and recreational sport pickup truck field is the trend to removable hardtops. Since soft top convertibles are no longer production manufactured in the United States, removable hardtops have become very popular. Generally such removable tops are made of fiberglass. However, fiberglass has certain disadvantages as compared to sheet metal, such as less strength and durability. Consumers have shown a definite preference for removable tops made of steel, where this is a practical approach.
The approach presently used to convert a hardtop vehicle to a removable hardtop requires the use of many screws to fasten the mating gaskets to the opposed severed edges. The tightening of the screws draws the sheet metal into firm contact with the gaskets and also places much stress in the sheet metal and may induce warping of the metal, resulting in cracking of the paint, thus often requiring a complete new paint job. The procedure also calls for the drilling of many holes along the severed edges to accept the sheet metal screws. This requires a significant amount of labor and time. Each screw must then be tightened requiring additional time. This procedure often requires a vehicle to spend several days in the shop to complete the repainting, and other tasks, and with the increasing variety of paints used on the various types of vehicle typically so modified, it is often difficult to match the new paint to the old paint, so many times an entirely new coat of paint is applied to the vehicle.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method of severing the top of a vehicle from its body and adapting the top and body to be removably rejoined which method does not require repainting of any portion of the vehicle and does not use screws to secure the mating gaskets to the severed sheet metal.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of converting a hard top vehicle into a removable top vehicle which removable top is actually the original hardtop of the vehicle slightly modified.
It is another object of this invention to provide mating gaskets which can easily and quickly be installed on the severed edges of the body and top to permit removable rejoining of the body and top.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method of securing the mating gaskets to the severed edges which provides for substantial structural strength and integrity along the rejoined portions of the body and top.
It is again an object of this invention to provide a standard gasket insert which can be used in production line fashion on all vehicles of a particular model.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a method of quickly and accurately severing the top from a particular model vehicle in exactly the same place on each vehicle.
The invention also provides for a means to prohibit fluids which may enter between the mating gaskets from entering the interior of the vehicle.